1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to reconstructing and paving roads. More specifically, the present invention includes a design technique for selecting a bituminous mixture for use in a hot in-place recycling process. The present invention also includes using the selected bituminous mixture to re-pave a surface.
2. Description of Related Art
Traditionally, when roads are rehabilitated, material is milled and removed. Then, asphalt is brought to the construction site and placed on the milled area. One disadvantage with such a process is that it is time-consuming because it requires two operations. In one operation, the road is milled up, and the material is removed. Then, in the second operation, the hot mix asphalt is transported to the site and placed on the milled pavement. Another disadvantage with such a process is that the milled material often is not reused.
More recently, roads that are in fair or poor condition have been replaced or rehabilitated using in-place recycling of the bituminous material that makes up the road. However, these processes lack thorough designs and thus have consistency problems, such as inconsistency in bitumen content. Many times they do not provide the desired performance. Still further, many roads made with conventional in-place recycling processes that lack thorough designs are unreliable, and many times this leads to raveling, potholes, rutting, disintegration problems, and cracks.
In order to overcome these disadvantages, a process that provides better road performance while using recycled materials is needed.